President Obama called the cap on the gulf oil leak "good news" today, but he cautioned that the job of ending the massive oil leak is not yet complete.
"There were a lot of reports coming out in the media that seemed to indicate, 'Well, maybe this thing is done,'" he said . "We won't be done until we actually know that we've killed the well and that we have a permanent solution in place," he said in the White House Rose Garden before heading off to a Maine vacation.
The president was referring to BP'ssuccessful attempt -- so far -- to place a tight cap on the busted oil well and for the first time in 87 days prevent the underwater gusher from pouring into the gulf. BP called Thursday's success a test to see if the device will withstand the pressure of the surging oil, or whether the oil is now leaking out somewhere else in the ocean bedrock.
"It's important that we don't get ahead of ourselves here," Obama said today. "You know, one of the problems with having this camera down there is that when the oil stops gushing, everybody feels like we're done. And we're not."
He said the well still has to be permanently plugged and there is the massive clean-up of areas polluted by the spill, which Obama said needs "better coordination on the ground along the shorelines." "But we are making steady progress," the president said, "and I think the American people should take some heart in the fact that we're making progress on this front."
Scientists today and through the weekend will be combing the area of the leak, looking for evidence of oil seeping through the ocean floor.
"It's premature to open the Champagne bottle, but this weekend we'll know whether we contained the monster or not," City University of New York physics professor and SyFy Channel host Michio Kaku told "Good Morning America" today.
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